


Stand Inside Your Love

by heyyy



Category: Dunkirk (2017)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Domestic Bliss, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Fluff, I need my boys to be happy, M/M, THEY DESERVE IT, They are happy okay?, they deserve the world
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-11
Updated: 2017-12-11
Packaged: 2019-02-13 04:56:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12976431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heyyy/pseuds/heyyy
Summary: Tommy is sick and Alex takes care of him.





	Stand Inside Your Love

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!
> 
> The tittle of this fic comes from a Smashing Pumpkins song.

Snow is a bitch. Sure, everything looks lovely covered in white but it's only enjoyable indoors with a fireplace, a blanket and hot cocoa. If you had to work late and then drive with the fear of being in a car wreck, it wasn’t that cool or lovely. The only thing getting him home right now is the promise of a cozy bed and a warm body next to his.

After 30 minutes, Alex finally arrives home; he cheeks his phone for missing texts and doesn’t find any. He gets into the elevator and sighs loudly, it has been a long day. Apparently owning a business is not easy, who knew. At least his workers are good people who actually help him and are good at their job. Alex opens the door and he’s immediately greeted by his cat. It jumps on the side table and begins purring against his hand.

“How are you, girl? Good girl. Where’s Tommy, Leeloo?” The cat meows happily. Tommy should’ve arrived at least an hour ago, but he’s nowhere to be seen. Alex decides to fill Leeloo’s food bowl but it already has food in it. So maybe Tommy is home after all. “Tommy? Where are you?”

Nothing but silence. Alex goes to the kitchen and puts on the kettle; he still isn’t able to feel his fingers. Once the water has boiled, he brings two mugs to the bedroom. Tommy is on top of the bed shivering with his face against a pillow. Alex leaves the mugs on one of the night tables and immediately goes to Tommy.

“Tommy, what happened?” Tommy’s only response is to continue to shiver and bury his face into Alex’s stomach. Alex cards his fingers through Tommy’s hair and finds it damp with sweat. Then he touches Tommy’s forehead; it feels unusually warm to the touch. “Are you sick?”

“I think…” Tommy cuts himself mid-sentence and only nods his head instead. Alex touches Tommy’s clothes and everything is wet and cold. Alex curses and begins to peal Tommy’s wet clothes from his body.

“Did you fall on the snow?” Tommy nod’s again. Alex jumps from the bed to the drawers to find warm pajamas. Peeling wet tight skinny jeans from Tommy turns out to be a hassle, but after a couple of minutes he finally manages it. Alex runs to the bathroom to grab dry towels to warm up Tommy’s body and looks for cold medicine in the cabinet. “Why didn’t you take your clothes off before falling on the bed?” Alex yells from the bathroom door before returning to the other room.

“I started to feel sick in the morning and by the time I fell in the snow I already felt horrible, when I got home I just wanted to lie down,” Tommy words are jumbled, he clears his throat and starts to cough. Alex begins to dress him in dry clothes and makes him lie down inside the bed. Fortunately, the bed didn’t get wet with Tommy’s clothes so there no need to change the bedding yet.

“You should have called, I would’ve brought soup. Here, take this, it will help with the cold,” he gives two pills to Tommy and hands him a water bottle. Tommy makes a face at the medicine but takes it anyway. Then, Alex picks up the tea and puts it in his hands. “This will warm you up”.

“Thanks, I’m sorry you have to do this,” Tommy closes his eyes and sips carefully at the cup. Once he thinks it’s at the right temperature, he drinks almost half the cup and gives Alex a small smile. Alex feels a surge of affection for him and kisses the side of Tommy’s mouth while he gets comfortable on the bed.

“Don’t worry ‘bout it, you are going to feel like shite in a couple of hours so try to take a rest,” Alex is about to get up when Tommy’s hand grabs his arm.

“Don’t leave”. Tommy leaves the mug on the night table and slides down even more on the bed. He tugs on Alex’s wrist to make him lie down.

“I’m not, I need to lock the apartment though and I also have to call the school so they know you can’t go tomorrow and Jenny too, she needs to know that she’ll be in charge for the day”.

“You don’t have to do that, I can stay home alone; they already know I’m not going to work tomorrow.” Tommy pouts and closes his eyes again; Alex takes advantage of the moment and kisses him hard on the mouth.

“Don’t be daft. They’re not going to die one day without me and I much rather be here with you than worrying about you in the office” He gets up before Tommy can protest any further. He grabs a change of clothes, goes to the bathroom while sending a quick text to Jenny. She’ll know what to do, she’s his right hand after all.

Alex jogs to the living room area to lock the door. He refills Leeloo’s water bowl and pets her on her spot on top of the couch. He goes back to the bedroom and opens her little cat door so she wont wake them in the middle of the night screaming bloody murder because she wants to sleep with them. Damn cat, he never wanted her in the first place, but when Tommy brought her home with the saddest look on his face because she was malnourished and “ _Alex, she’s only a baby, look at her, we can’t leave her_ ”, Tommy knew perfectly well that he had won and Alex knew he wasn’t going to say no to Tommy. Now, she’s an important part of his life, and just like Tommy, she owns a big part of his heart.

While he was gone Tommy moved to Alex’s side of the bed and now he’s hogging the blankets. Alex nudges him slightly to make space for himself. Tommy grumbles but moves while complaining about the cold side of the bed. Alex laughs while getting into bed, once he gets comfortable enough, he raises one arm so Tommy can fit himself at his side and covers them both with the blankets. He lets his hand rest on Tommy’s back and he can feel how his body temperature is still slightly wrong, but Tommy pushes his face into his neck so he figures he’s still cold.

“How do you feel?”

“Cold, but now a little better,” Tommy kisses Alex’s neck. He sighs contently, even though he’s still worried about Tommy.

“If you feel really sick during the night, wake me up, we can go to the emergency room if the fever peaks. I know you like to suffer in silence and be heroic, but you don’t have to. Just wake me, please”. Tommy has always been the silent type, the shy one, has never liked to draw attention to himself, so sometimes even though he feels awful, he would rather suffer in silence than speak up. Alex on the other hand, will make a fuss about everything and will complain loudly when he feels sick.

“Okay…” Alex moves so they’re facing each other, with both arms behind Tommy’s back. Tommy puts his face against his chest and begins to breathe slowly.

“Wow, you must really be sick if you agreed to that without a fight”. Tommy kicks him lightly on the chins while Alex laughs, but soon after Tommy settles and falls asleep. Alex sighs again and holds Tommy tighter. Alex always gets sad when Tommy feels sick because he can’t do anything to make it better, he can only hold him and give him food; Tommy has told him that it helps, knowing that he has someone to take care of him.

A couple of months ago, Tommy was in a car accident, some fucking driver ran pass a red light. Alex never felt as scared as he felt then. His whole world came crashing down when he received that phone call informing him about the accident. Before the nurse could get another word, Alex was speeding in his car to the hospital. He ran as fast as he could to the nurse’s station, frantically asking about Tommy’s room before running again. He found Tommy lying in bed with a broken leg, a few scratches on his arms, a Jell-o cup in his hand and a dopey smile on his bruised face. Alex fell down to his knees with relief and while tears stream down his face.

_“Alex, Alex, come on, I’m fine, come here. Alex, my leg is broken and I can’t move, you have to come here”._

_“I thought… I thought you died!”_

_“You didn’t even let the nurse finish, did you? You git. I’m fine, come here, kiss me”._

After that, he only remembers Tommy holding his face, kissing him and telling him to take him home because he was high as a kite and wanted to sleep for a week with Alex by his side. At the apartment, Tommy never complained, but Alex knew he was in pain and uncomfortable so he tried to help him as much as he could. Right now, he can only hope that by morning Tommy will feel better. He lies awake for a couple of minutes, then feels the cat jump behind him while purring quietly and promptly falls asleep with the sound of cars honking in the distance.

* * *

Alex wakes up with lips against his jaw and soft hands on his back and neck. He smiles and moves to capture Tommy’s mouth in a gentle kiss. Tommy parts his lips and Alex squirms excitedly when their tongues touch, exactly like the first time they really kissed. Except that on that occasion Tommy didn’t smell sick; the scent of pines, sand and salt was impregnated on his skin.

“You have morning breath, love.” He mutters against Tommy’s mouth.

“You too, but I’m not complaining,” Tommy laughs and suddenly things are better than the night before. Alex pushes Tommy against the mattress and lies on top of him while Tommy’s legs wrap around his torso. Alex starts to kiss every inch of skin available and puts a mark on his collarbone. Tommy brings his face up and starts to kiss him deeply while Alex tries to keep things light. “Come on, I know I must be disgusting right now, but at least pretend to be interested”.

“I’m always interested in you which is why I want you to go take a warm shower so I can change these sheets and then we can spend the rest of the day in bed, okay? ‘Cause I’m sure that if we shag, you might die from not being able to breathe properly. You are not fooling me with that clogged red nose.” Tommy blushes and Alex kisses said nose before trying to move away, but even sick Tommy has always been surprisingly strong for a small lad.

“I love you, you know that right?” Alex smiles and nods and kisses him hard one more time.

“I do, but it’s nice to hear it once in a while,” Tommy starts kicking him, muttering things like _I always tell you that I love you_ , _prat_ and _arsehole._ Alex can only laugh at him and try to squirm away. “I love you too, a lot, too much in fact, I think I should tone it down a little. What would people think about me?”

“They would think that you could probably find a nice lady that will make you happier than me…” Tommy whispers. Not this again, every once in a while Tommy’s insecurities get the best of him. “A bird that can give you things that I never cou-“

“Stop. Tommy, I don’t want a bird, I want you, okay? We've been over this. You are the most important thing in my life, you and that stupid cat you guilt trip me into adopting, yeah? I love you, only you, I don’t miss girls like you probably think, the only thing I miss about them is the fact that they usually don’t leave tissue paper in their pants only to find them after they wash their clothes, but that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make. Do you understand what I’m telling you?”

“I do… I’m sorry, I think the medicine and the flu are making me stupid,” Tommy looks down, bashful. Alex puts a hand on his jaw and kisses him before hauling himself from the bed. Tommy pouts, but Alex can see in his eyes that the moment of doubt has passed.

“Apology accepted, now, you are going to take that shower, I’m going to change the sheets and we are going to spend the rest of the day eating and sleeping and watching bad television, what do you reckon?” Tommy stands up, hugs Alex, whispers an I love you into his skin and goes to the bathroom. Alex pads to the kitchen and starts making breakfast, they’ll probably end up ordering take out for lunch and dinner.

Before Tommy, Alex’s life was kind of a mess. He partied too much, slept too little, drank a lot much and hooked up with both men and women every chance he had. There is nothing wrong with that life if you like it, but after a while, it got boring and made him feel empty. After Tommy, Alex mostly drinks and parties with Tommy and only has sex with him.

He remembers clearly the day they met. He was on a beach with a couple of friends, one of them was a hookup. The beach was mostly deserted except for him and the hookup. From one moment to another they saw in the distance a couple of arms waving around frantically. Alex stood up from the towel, ran and jumped into the sea, hoping that it wasn’t too late. He swam for a couple of minutes and grabbed the man by his torso and started to swim back to shore. He lay the man on the sand, there was a bluish tint on the his skin and lips so Alex grabbed the man’s face in his large hands and started breathing air into his lungs. His lips were cold against his own, but after a couple of seconds, the man coughed and started puking salt water. Alex told his friend to go find a towel and cradled the boy’s head like it was something precious.

_“Are you okay? Can you move?” Alex asks the man; he nods and sits up. When the boy looks at him, Alex feels like all the blood in his body rushes to his head. His eyes are blue, bluer than the sea itself, he has freckles on most of his face and Alex feels the sudden need to kiss him all over_. _“What your name?”_

_“Thomas, no-Tommy, mi name is Tommy,” he smiles at Alex and rests his body against his and Alex knows he’s doomed. Suddenly he is very aware of every part of his body that is touching Tommy’s. His friend brings the towel and Alex helps him up and dries him while Tommy sways in his feet and uses Alex body to stand up straight._

After that something in Alex changed. Tommy was supposed to leave that night with a couple of work friends and return to the city so decided to swim one last time and it bit him in the arse. Alex tried to convince him to stay with him and his friends for a couple of days, but Tommy refused, said he couldn’t stay with strangers, even though one of them had saved his life. However, before he left, he typed his phone number on Alex’s phone and kissed him. Alex only had the chance to put his hands on Tommy’s back for a couple of seconds and it was over, but he’ll forever remember the sound of the waves behind him and the smell of sand, salt and pines that clung to Tommy’s skin. _“For saving my life”_ Tommy had whispered before jumping in the car with a couple of his friends. Basically, his life became rom-com from that point on.

The kettle makes a chirping sound and Alex jumps. Tommy pads into the room while holding Leeloo who is trying unsuccessfully to clean Tommy’s eyebrows. Tommy leaves the cat on the couch and hugs Alex from behind.

“How do you feel?” Alex holds Tommy’s hands on his own stomach and turns his neck to kiss the top of his head.

“I’m a bit loopy, it must be the medicine, but I feel better than last night,” Alex nods and Tommy kisses his cheek before hopping on the counter beside them. Alex decides to make scrambled eggs and toast. The cat jumps on the counter and starts head-butting Tommy’s arm and demands attention. Tommy willingly obliges and hold the cat close to his body while petting his head and ears. She purrs happily.

Their lives together and apart haven’t exactly been easy. Alex is bound to short temper and rash decisions with little regards to consequences, sometimes Tommy gets mad because he fears Alex might get hurt. Alex also has his own set of insecurities similar to Tommy’s: that there is someone better, that someone in the world can give him more, someone he wouldn’t have to worry about, but unlike Tommy, he’s selfish. He doesn’t want to share Tommy with anyone but their cat so he’ll be with him for as long as Tommy allows it. If at some point Tommy thinks he’ll be happier without Alex, Alex will flee, simple as that.

“Alex…” Alex turns off the stove and locks eyes with Tommy still sitting on the counter, the cat is gone to her usual place on the couch. Tommy opens his arms and motions Alex to come. Alex goes willingly and fits himself between Tommy’s legs. Alex likes it when Tommy’s on the counter, they are at the same height and it’s easier to kiss and hug. “I’ve been calling you for a while, where were you?” Tommy taps Alex’s left temple and brushes his fingers against the lines on his forehead, what he lovingly calls _Alex’s thinking and worrying lines._

“Nowhere,” he lies “I was thinking about work”.

“Sure you were.” Tommy holds his face in his hands and kisses him. He opens his mouth and Tommy’s tongue brushes against his with ease. Alex feels it in his toes, and in his fingers and everywhere they touch. He lets his hands wander to Tommy’s backside and holds him close to his body. “You sure you don’t want to fuck?”

“Don’t get cocky, you are going to feel like you were struck by a train in a couple of hours, better not add more pain, we can wait a couple of days for you to get better”. Tommy grunts annoyed, but nods his head nonetheless. He hops off the counter and kisses Alex’s cheek again. “Go back to bed, I’ll bring the food”.

* * *

 

They spend the rest of the day mostly sleeping and eating while Tommy tries to pretend his body isn’t aching. Sometimes, when Tommy isn’t too tired, they make out lazily for a couple of minutes before Tommy’s breathing starts to get uneven and Alex pulls away from him.

“You are mean.” Tommy huffs annoyed.

“I’m just looking out for your best interests,” he laughs at Tommy’s disgruntled face and kisses his forehead as an apology.

“Laugh it up now, babe, with all the making out, you’ll get sick sooner or later and then we’ll see if you find it that funny,” he chuckles again and hides his face into Tommy’s chest and presses small kisses there.

“I never get sick, I’m like an unstoppable superhuman with an amazing immune system,” Tommy cards his fingers through Alex’s hair and hums tonelessly “You just watch me, I’ll show it to you. I’m invincible”.

* * *

 

Three days later, Alex comes down with the flu as well, but it’s completely worth it only to see the look of love and determination on Tommy’s face while he takes care of him and dotes him with affection. Yeah, he could never do better than this.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this! I had a great time writing it. Any mistakes are mine and I'm sorry, but after a while, you just stop noticing them. 
> 
> Thanks for reading x


End file.
